Underneath The Hood
by Mitsuki Horenake
Summary: Side-fic to "Holy Roman Empire".  During one simple night, Seychelles learns that Canada has a bit of a secret...


**This is set in the time zone before "Holy Roman Empire", but you don't have to actually read that in order to get it. That's right, this is with bipolar Canada! I DO NOT OWN HETALIA: AXIS POWERS.**

**/=+=/**

"Awww…you're a lucky young lady, you know that?"

Seychelles turned her head around to see a grinning Francis looking back at her, a rose dangling in his fingers. He looked up and down on her figure and nodded, obviously approving the body figure of the young lady that was going to be dating his son. He walked up to her and sniffed her hair _(which was as creepy as it sounded)_.

"H-hey!" She backed up. "Haven't you heard of giving someone room?"

"Aw, sorry _mademoiselle_. I just want to make sure that dear Matthew has the best time of his life today!" He grinned. "It isn't every day that a charming young lady asks him to a beautiful evening dinner."

"…it's just at IHOP, France…" She blushed. "And it's not even a date. We're just friends."

She didn't have to say anything, because she heard someone walk down the stairs of the hotel they were at _(it was for a meeting he was in)_. Looking up, she saw the man she was waiting for adjusting his zipper on his thin black jacket, clearly embarrassed that he can't seem to fix it in time. It took a few minutes before he realized that he was in the lobby _(and that was because he accidentally tripped when he missed a step)_.

"C-Canada!" She jumped. "Are you alright?"

"_H-huh? S-Seyel?"_ He looked up and caught eye contact…but it wasn't Seyel. _"Ah!_ **P-père!****"**

"Ah! Look who finally shows up!" France helped his son to his feet. "Ne sais-tu pas qu'il est impoli de faire attendre une dame?"

"_Je sais que, mon père...vous n'avez pas de me dire...__"_

_Aw…he sounds so cute when he he's speaking nervous French…_ Seychelles blushed and looked down on the floor. _He even whispers them too…_

"Oh yes. J'ai quelque chose pour vous." Francis began to dig into his pockets.

"_Vraiment, mon père...vous n'avez pas trop...__"_

Seychelles began to wonder why they were talking in French _(it couldn't be secrecy, since she knew some forms of French)_ as France pulled something from his pocket and placed it in his son's hand. Canada looked at him in confusion the entire time as France grinned again, the rose in his hand suddenly coming out of nowhere. He looked down at his gift…and froze.

"That's just in case you get…_**lucky**_, on your date."

"_**P-père!"**_ He looked at his utterly perverted father. _"__Pourquoi aurais-je besoin de cela?__"_

"Aw, come on! Don't tell me you don't know how it works!"

The extremely embarrassed Canadian took that as a sign to leave. Seychelles got confused and quickly followed him, being greeted only by the sounds of the Frenchman waving his hands like a madman and saying all sorts of phrases that sounded like they should have a good time. Canada just blushed.

"Um…Canada? What did he give you?"

"_Y-you don't want to know…"_

**/=+=/**

Fortunately, the IHOP they decided to go to wasn't crowded when they got in. They were escorted to their seats and were given their menus as the waitresses and waiters started going around serving the other customers. Seychelles stared at the American choices before looking up toward Canada, who just looked up from his menu to stare at her. He blushed and looked back down to the menu.

"All of these look really good…" She smiled. "Do you come here often?"

"_Um…from time to time, whenever I can get my brother out of the nearby McDonald's…"_ He laughed. _"At least here, the sandwiches are somewhat healthier."_

"Yeah, I guess that's true."

They fell back to awkward silence as they stared back into their menus. They both already ordered their nightly meals _(Seychelles got the Caesar Salad while Canada always gets the pancakes)_, but were now too shy to start up another conversation. Fortunately, their waitress was already there.

"Hello, welcome to IHOP! My name is Mitsuki and I'll be your server this evening." She grinned. "Can I interest you with something to drink?"

"_Um…just water for me."_

"Can you give me an iced tea?"

"All right…should I give you a few minutes, or are you ready for your order?" She asked, pulling out her list.

"Actually, yeah we are." Seychelles looked at her. "Can I get a Caesar Salad please?"

"Good enough. The salad here is suckered with cheese so it doesn't really taste like salad…but it's still healthy!" Mitsuki wrote it down. "And for your companion?"

They both turned to him and realized that he was in a daze, staring right at Seyel. It was making her blush considerably, something that Mitsuki found oddly entertaining. It was only after she began failing to hold back her chuckles that Matthew was able to snap out of it.

"_H-huh? Oh, uh…"_ He blushed. _"J-just the pancakes, that's all…"_

"All right…bacon or sausage?"

Did he just fall back into the daze? _"Huh? Um…half and half…"_

"All right. That's a Caesar Salad and a stack of pancakes with half-and-half."

"That's about right." Seychelles answered.

"All right, I'll come back with your drinks." She leaned over to Seychelles's ear. _"I don't know how, but you bagged a total gentleman!"_

Seychelles blushed as their waitress skipped away with a huge grin on her face. That alone made Canada very uncomfortable in his seat. However, he waited until the strange waitress bounced away before he began to speak up. Even then, it took a while for him to find his voice.

"_W-what did she want from you?"_

"She…thought we were dating."

Canada slammed his head on the table, making her panic. Then again, he was suffering a much deeper panic attack that the other country can even being to think about. Heck, it was Canada we were talking about. He's prone to these types of breakdowns.

"_Why does everyone think that…?"_ He mumbled. _"I mean, you don't like me that way…right?"_

"Um…"

Seychelles said that just as a joke, but it made the other's blush all the deeper. Any farther and it might've integrated with his skin color. Fortunately, Mitsuki came around with the drinks and he quickly grabbed it to take a long sip. If he wasn't going to be talking he might as well make sure he doesn't end up mumbling nonsense.

"Pfft…you're so cute when you're embarrassed!"

"…_mmmn…"_ He blushed, his lips still to the water.

"Well, I guess I should say it first while I'm able to talk." Seychelles rubbed the back of her head. "I think you're…cute. And you have a really nice personality with very few flaws as far as I can recall."

Canada froze, his lips still to the cold ice drink in his mouth. Was she seriously thinking of him that way?

"When I heard that not too many people seem to recall your name past a few seconds, I thought that you must've been a total jerk or a very small country or something like that." She continued. "But you're not. You're probably one of the most normal men that I ever met in my life. And I like that in you."

He blushed rapidly, his lips now going numb by the contact with the ice cubes. He knew he had to say _**something**_. He couldn't just leave her hanging! After a few minutes, he finally lowered the drink, hearing it clink against the wooden top.

"_Um…I…well…when I first met you, I thought you were one of the most beautiful women that I ever met. And…I was around a lot of women, since my father…is Francis and all."_ He tried his best not to mention their real names, licking his lips to try getting warmth back in them. _"When I heard that you were a nation as well…I thought that it would be nice if we could be friends…then I remembered what happened when I tried with everyone else…"_

"You thought that I was going to forget you by the end of the day."

"…_yeah…"_

His hands went numb, and that's when he realized that he was holding the glass for so long that the ice cubes had made the warmth leave them. Suddenly, he felt warm hands overlap his own. He looked up to see the smile on her face, making him smile as well.

"You're very hard to forget, you know that?" She grinned. "Maybe they're all as dense as that brother of yours."

"…_maybe…"_ He answered.

"Well…by the looks of things…I might have to wear the pants of this relationship."

At the word 'pants', Canada's face went completely red. And it wasn't because he was intimidated. After a few seconds, Seychelles was able to differentiate between the two of them. She backed up with a curious look on her face.

"…this had something to do with what France gave you, huh?"

All Canada had to do was nod.

**/=+=/**

They were walking back to the hotel, hand in hand. It was getting cold, but none of them seemed to mind. In fact, Matthew was just succeeding in getting Seyel to stop calling him formally _(which in their terms meant their real name)_. Before they knew it, they heard someone running around them.

"W-what was that?" She panicked, holding onto his arm.

"_I…I don't know…maybe someone was running late for something?"_

"They…sound like they're surrounding us."

Matthew looked at her in confusion before realizing that they were being surrounded. She clung onto his arm as the arrival of six thugs came out of nowhere, some armed with pipes and one with a pocket knife. The one with the pocket knife walked up toward the two, both of which were panicking at this point.

"Aw…are you two lost?" He asked. "We can show you to your location…if you'd be so kind as to give us what you got."

"_I'm sorry…but we used up the last of our money."_ Matthew said with a calm voice. Seychelles looked up.

"That's too bad…" He turned to Seychelles. "We can take her as payment."

She froze in place, and he knew that he had to make a move. One of the men from behind grabbed her arm, causing the Canadian to dart his head around and punch him right in the face. Since he was a nation, he went flying into the other side of the alleyway. As he straightened himself, one of the thugs with a steel pipe came from behind and whacked him straight in the head, sending Canada flying into the wall. Seychelles was about to run to him when two of the thugs grabbed her from behind.

"Feisty lass, aren't you?" The leader grinned, looking at her. "We're going to have fun with you, ain't that right boys?"

Seychelles immediately thought up of a plan: once the leader got close enough, she was going to run up his stomach and flip over them, kicking the other two before grabbing Canada and running. Before she had a chance to do anything, she heard a punch and a thud, a figure suddenly appearing from behind one of them, pulling his hood over his eyes.

"Do you guys mind letting her go?" The man asked.

_That voice…_ She froze. _America?_

"Hey, since when do we listen to people like you?" One of the thugs went to him. "You should know your place!"

"Yeah, I know my place…" He grinned, his eyes hidden by the tip of his hood. _**"With my foot over your head."**_

Before anyone had a chance to react, the man had driven a roundhouse kick straight to his face. The other thugs came in to charge at the strange figure, only to be bashed into each other and then horribly beaten up. This whole time, Seyel stood there confused. After the last man fell, the figure got her hand and immediately began to pull her up to her feet and out of the hall.

"W-wait!" She panicked. "What about Ca-Matthew?"

"What? What about me?"

She stared at him in confusion before realizing that she could see past his hood. The blue eyes and blond hair did say that it was America, but something was off. First of all, the hair was longer than America's, not to mention the curl that was protruding out of the hood.

"…Matthew?" She was surprised.

"It's about time! Geez, I was about to just tell you straight out!" He laughed, so unlike Matthew. "And here I thought that you were smart!"

"Well, I was under the fact that Matthew did **not** act like his older, louder, and more obnoxious brother." She remarked.

"Yeah, well…about that." He sighed as they walked out of the alley. "Let's just say that…that bastard England did a hell lot more than just scare the ever living crap out of him while he was a child."

"…what was he doing?"

"Another one of his crazy spells. According to what he said, it _'represses' _one and _'surfaces' _another." He answered.

"Like…a split personality?"

"Not split. I have considered that, but unlike humans with that problem, I happen to remember everything quiet well in both forms." Matthew stopped pulling her arm. "I don't know the details either, so don't bother asking!"

"Um…wow, that's…interesting. Does anyone else know about this?"

"Just my brother…and let's just say that it was the only time that I ever made him cry."

Whoa. She stared at him with a bit of surprise on her face, which made him cringe a little bit. She could see the other Matthew in his eyes as he turned his head around, looking away from the island nation. Through the silence, Seychelles began to think about it. Matthew with two personalities but one mindset? She was surprised that no one else had known about this and that Alfred had never talked about his brother's condition with anyone else in the meeting hall. Suddenly, a strange thought crossed her mind.

"Um…which Matthew is…the dominant one?"

"The what?"

"The…uh…the Matthew that he was born with. The one that England split."

"It's the other one, if that's what you're thinking about." He stated. "And if you're curious, he's freaking out that you think that he's a nutcase and that he had completely scared you off."

"But…I thought that you two shared the same mind."

"It's called optimism and pessimism with their own thoughts." He shrugged. "Really, I don't give a damn, but…"

"Hey, um…is it OK if I talk to the other Matthew?"

"Sure. Knock yourself out."

She watched as he lifted his hand to his hood. Slowly, he flipped it off, revealing beautiful golden hair shining in the night lamps. When his eyes opened, she saw the worried look that the other Matthew was talking about. That's when she decided that talking to him wasn't going to solve her problem.

So she decided to kiss him instead.

He stood there in shock for a few minutes before relaxing his muscles and closing his eyes, sinking deep into the giddiness that was making his heart flutter. After a few minutes, they pulled apart. Both of them were blushing considerably _(of course, her tan skin was able to hide most of the blush)_.

"…_you're not…scared of me?"_

"I'm starting to be surrounded by would-be heroes, a pervert and a man who never opens his eyes, Matthew…I still think that you're the sanest person here."

Matthew blushed even more, his eyes narrowing as he leaned in for one more brush to the lips. Part of him wished that this moment would never end, that he could hold her forever…

"**YEAH!** That's my son! Give her all you got!"

On second thought, never mind…

**/=+=/**

**Yes, the translations come from Google Translate. Blame them, please.**

[P-père!] **FRENCH**– _F-father!_

[Ne sais-tu pas qu'il est impoli de faire attendre une dame?] **FRENCH**– _Don't you know that it's rude to make a lady wait?_

[Je sais que, mon père ... vous n'avez pas de me dire ...] **FRENCH**– _I know that, father…you don't have to tell me…_

[J'ai quelque chose pour vous.] **FRENCH**– _I have something for you._

[Vraiment, mon père ... vous n'avez pas trop ...] **FRENCH**–_ Really, father…you don't have too…_

[Pourquoi aurais-je besoin de cela?] **FRENCH**– _Why would I need this?_

**I might write a Hetalia x Persona 4 cross…but I think someone already wrote that…**


End file.
